What Lies Beneath (REWRITE)
by JackieFrost1234
Summary: After missing for 6 months, Dick returns with a new name and appearance, but is fighting AGAINST justice. Batman is torn, Wally fears for his friend, and the man who has corrupted Dick has a well pissed off Daddy Bat who wants his son back.- Daddy!bat angst, Wally/Dick/SB/Red Arrow/Kaldur/Red hood!Bromance, Dark!Nightwing
1. Chapter 1

_Insanity _

**_Sorry, I did not like the road to this fic so I am rewritting it. _**

_Disclaimer~ _

**_READ: Dick is SIXTEEN _**

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><p><span><em>"There are two sides of the world as there are two sides of a coin... There is good, then there is bad. There is light, then there is darkness .. There is truth, and then there are LIES. <em>

_But it is between yourself only to choose which one will be part of your spiritual being. Sometimes, in the mist, we forget who we are. That is when all pressure is on you, and you cannot help but ask... Who can save you from yourself?" _

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><p><em>A strong yelp filled the air of the poorly condition abandoned building, that grabbed everyone's attention. There, at the center, a shadowed figure dressed in a black cloak, held a blade underneath Robin's chin and right against his neck. Robin dared not to move nor scream, for if he would, the action would be fatal. So all he could do, was stand still in desperate need. <em>

_"Robin!" Aqualad cried. The Atlantian took a step towards the two, in hopes of saving his friend. _

_His effort ended soon when he noticed that the dark figure applied more pressure to the blade, causing a line of crimson to run down the Teen Wonder's neck. "No body move!" Batman ordered. He rather not have his son's breathing access ruined and lead to death. But the Dark Knight could not help but feel the slightest fear strike his heart for Dick. _

_"Such a stand off," the unknown man hissed. His voice sounded with more of a gruff tone like Bats. "Shame that you care for this boy as much as I do... His kidnapping will be more unsettle for you." _

_"You're not taking him anywhere!" Superboy raged, feeling the adrinaline rush. Superman placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "No, Connor. Stand down," he said. Connor glared up at the man. "No! I can take him! WE can take him!" _

_"... No." _

_Connor turned his hate towards the man, but did not utter a word. "Let him go," Bruce growled towards the shadowed figure captivating Dick, "or else I will make sure you pay dearly." _

_The man stood there for a still moment as the room went into utter silence. You could hear both the heroes' and sidekick's heart pace quicken. The stranger finally made his choice. _

_"Goodbye." _

_Before anyone could react, he threw four gas bombs to the heroes' feet. White smoke fled into their nostrils and inside their ears. Immediately, they all suddenly felt like someone was jamming a hammer to their heads and sunk to the floor, screaming in agony. Few passed out. Instantly after this, the dark man hoisted Dick off the ground and jetted to the building window. "TATI!" Robin screamed before he and the captor jumped through the glass an plummeted down the long way. Surprisingly, without a scratch, they landed on a poor car below. _

_Batman felt his stomach churn and ignoring the agonizing pain in his head, he ran to the window that the stranger jumped out of, and only saw nothing but a blur of black enter a shadow. Soon, Dick's cries for help died away. The Dark Knight felt his whole world spin and he sank to his knees. _

_"NOOOOOOOOO!"_

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><p>"NOOOO!- GAH!"<p>

Bruce shot his head off his pillow with a gasp. Sweat dampened his hair to his forehead and dark bags hung low under his eyes. Ragged breaths erupted his from his lips, as he tried to clear his mind of the nightmare...

Well...

Memory, that is.

The man gazed to his alarm clock that read 4:00am, and groaned in distress, rubbing his face with his hands. Bruce stood from his bed and walked tiredly out the room. Thunder clashed through the air and lightning filled the darkned halls for half a second, then another.

The man trudged down the path until he reached one specific room...

Dick's room.

He paused at the door, staring down at the doorknob as if he was waiting for it to move or turn...

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><p><em>Bruce walked down the hallway to his young ward's room, in orfer to check on the boy after three months of staying within the manor. Dick was still truamatized after the incident with his parents. Still, the child wondered: who killed his family? <em>

_Just as Bruce made it to his son's room, the knob twisted before he could touch it and the door swung open, revealing a raven haired boy looking up at Bruce with watery baby blues and trembling lip. Bruce sighed sadly. "Had another nightmare, Dickie Bird?" _

_The nine year old only bursted into whimpers and cries as he wrapped his arms around the man's waist and burried his face into Bruce's stomach. Bruce crouched down to Dick's height to hug the child more comfortably. "Would you like to sleep with me for tonight?" he asked gently. Dick nodded with a sniffle. _

_"Kay. Come on Richard," the man said, leading Dick doen the hallway by the hand. _

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><p>The door in reality present time, remained still and cold, and the door remained shut. Bruce tilted his head shut, trying keep the tears from falling. <em>Maybe I should... <em>

Slowly, he grabbed the knob and twisted, gently pushing the door open. Bruce walked inside, revealing Dick's room that had been kept untoutched for five months. Dick had been gone for six. On the Teen Wonder's bed that had sheets that had not been slept in, laid a pair of folded jeans and a black shirt that had not been worn. Nothing on the nightstand or shelf had been moved, but kept clean from dust. Everything was just how Dick left it.

Bruce sucked in a breath, feeling the need to break something. It had been his fault. He allowed a villain- a criminal, to sweep in a TAKE his child. His baby boy.

Bruce walked over to the bed and skimmed the tips of his fingers on the wool of the blanket's wrinkles. Something hit his heart- something unpleasent that NO father would dare want to gor through... He failed his child. And it killed him on the inside.

The man squeezed his eyes shut, feeling a sharp pain in his chest. "Damn you Richard... Look what you do to me," he whispered. There was no hate or venom in his voice, but pure shame. Never had Bruce thought he could be this much in the ditch. Dick sure did placed him there.

"Master Bruce? Master..." Alfred's voice called. The butler froze as he stood in the room with surprised eyes. Itbhad been five months since Bruce stepped into Dick's room- three months since he stepped _near _the door without punching a hole in the wall. It broke Alfred to see Bruce in such condition as this. Bruce looked this way before when his parents died, but it seemed to double now that Dick was gone. Alfred missed Dick as much, for the youth was like a grandson. Now that he was gone, it has been... hell.

It was till then when Bruce could not hold in the sorrow and he fell to his knees, shakingbin sobs. Alfred ran over to the man. "Let's get you out of here, Brucey," he said gently, for once, not referring to Bruce properly. Bruce tried pushing Alfreds hands away. "No."

"Master Bruce, please-"

"Damnit Alfred! I said NO," Bruce growled.

Alfred stopped. He knew Bruce needed some time alone and quietly left the room without a word. Once gone, Bruce pulled himself together and stood, looking down at Dick's picture by the alarm clock. He nodded in hope. "Don't worry, Dick. I'll find you soon," he whispered before turning his heel and leaving the room.

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><p><strong>REVIEW<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

_Discovery: A New Villian _

**_Review _**

**_Disclaimer~_**

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><p>Both the JL and YJ stood together in Mount Justice in hopes of having another clue that could lead them closer to finding Robin. Everyone, especially the young trainees, missed their little bird. Robin was the youngest and was their baby brother they adored and cared for so much... But no one could beat Batman's feels.<p>

Batman just had that heart for Dick like no other father had; Bats cared for Dick kore than he did himself; Bruce would beat the living hell out of those who dared tried to hurt his little bird (Even if it was Dick that was the ass); and he had that protectiveness for the boy. Clearly, one day when this situation had began, it was something the Dakr Knight hid and wished to take back...

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><p><em>Robin, at least half a foot taller than he was at thirteen, stood under the shadows of his mentor, Batman who stared him down with his 'batglare.' The sixteen year old dared not to look up and meet his gaze. <em>

_His reason for being in trouble? _

_During dinner, Dick had asked Bruce if he could do a night patrol all by himself; the sixteen year old had grown into a firm young teen, not to mention his growth spurt, and he felt like it was time to prove the Batman he could handle things on his own. Every bird has to fly, right? But that daddy instinct Dick sometimes found irritating, got the best of Bruce. The man unyeildingly refused to let him do so. Being the stubborn teen in the roleplay, Dick went against Bruce's orders and had gotten captured by Joker. _

_The madman was so gleeful that he had manage to catch Batman's partner in justice, that he literaly began his torture session in a nearby abandoned building. Robin had no idea how Joker could carry such numerous sharp objects- not mention a hammer- in his many pockets of that damned jacket. _

_Luckily, Joker only had the littlest time to cut Robin's chest three times (Robin dared not to scream for the clown) before a black shadow swept through one of the boarded windows. Robin winced many times, feeling Joker's pain as an angry Dark Knight beat the living daylights out of him. Once Joker was bounded and laughing weakly on the floor with splatters of blood coming from his mouth, Robin heard footsteps stop right in front of him. _

_The younger looked up to meet masked eyes with his mentor's narrowed slits. He smiled nervously and strained out a chuckle. "Uhhh, he-ey, Bats." _

_Robin hated the 'batglare' Bruce was giving him, that even Superman would run away. The teen sighed, before he was grabbed firmly by the arm and dragged out the building. Batman had signaled Gordon to come and arrest Joker. He was so pissed, he nearly shoved Dick in the Batmobile. Robin dared not to speak, seeing the clouds of smoke coming from under Bruce's cowl, and he muttered, "I am SO screwed." _

_Now, here he was with Alfred dressing his wounds, and Bruce... still glaring down upon him. It began to irritate Dick. "You know you can stop looking at me like that- it is not the first time this has happened, Bruce," he said. Bruce furrowed his eyebrows. "No it is not. But you went against my orders and took matters into your own hands, Dick. If I hadn't been there in time I don't..." Bruce took a calm breath and paced his temper away. Dick rolled his eyes. Sure, he was grateful Bruce cared, but what made him angry was that the man always had to be breathing on his nck. It was like Bruce could never trust him to handle things on his own. _

_"I'm sixteen, Bruce. I think I can take care of situations... Why can't you just let ME handle things by myself?" _

_Alfred saw the look and flare in Bruce's eyes as the man swished and stalked over to the teen. Dick himself knew he had struck a nerve within the man. Bruce stopped inches from Dick. _

_"So you can turn out like JASON?!" Bruce nearly yelled out. _

_Immediately, Dick's eyes widened in shock along with Alfred. "Master Bruce!" the butler gasped. Dick felt himself cringe at the name of his recently dead older brother. Apperently, Jason had went against Bruce's orders as well and had gotten captured by Joker... the incident was fatal... _

_Not only was Dick now raging for Bruce mentioning his deceased eldest foster son, but what pissed him off more was that Bruce actually thought he was that reckless. Dick frowned and glared up at Bruce. Fury boiled inside of him. "I... Am NOT. Jason! He did what he did because you PISSED HIM OFF. I did it cuz I do not need you on my case all the time. Maybe, Jason's death was recent because you allowed that fucking pshyco to kill him-!" _

**_SMACK! _**

_Dick had not seen the hand coming till it met with his right cheek with a hard slap, sending his face to the side. Alfred stumbled back in shock. Bruce was heaving red with anger, but the wierdest thing was... He didn't know what was happening. It all went RED for mere seconds that before he knew it, his hands were wrapped tightly around a small neck. _

_Bruce blinked. _

_It was Dick's neck. All seemed deaf to him. Even Alfred's words screaming at him, demanding that he'd release the teen. Alfred tried prying Bruce from Dick, who seemed to be losing conciouse every second he lacked oxygen. _

_"MASTER BRUCE, RELEASE THIS CHILD! DAMNIT BRUCE, I SAID LET HIM GO!" _

_Dick clawed at his foster father's hands. Tears stung his eyes and his body trembled roughly. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing. His father- his guardian... Was trying to kill him. KILL him. It scared him to death that his own mentor would be trying to murder him, but it terrorized him even more to know that it was BRUCE. The man that said he would guide and protect him. His limbs were growing weaker by the second he tried retrieving air. _

_Alfred was growing desperate as well. Quickly, the man looked around to find at least something to make Bruce stop. He found a knife used for surgery and grabbed it. Sorry son, he thought before bringing it down on Bruce's shoulder. Immediately, the man stopped with a roar of pain and released his ward. Dick nearly slipped off the stretcher, gasping large breaths of air while sobbing uncontrollably at the same time. Alfred took no less to wrap the child in a protective embrace. He held another knife in hand in case Bruce decided to make another attempt that could end p fatal. Dick was a grandson to Alfred and he knew Dick was Bruce's everything, but the billionare was not thinking clearly. It would be just horrible if the man found out his own son died by his hands. _

_Bruce yanked the knife out, causing crimson blood to flow out his shoulder, but that is what it took to bringbhim back into reality. He blinked several times, seeing Dick shaking in a terrified Alfred's arms. The boy was racking in sobs and gasos of air, cradling his neck that held DARK hand marks. Bruce froze at the sudden memory of a few seconds ago. He looked down at his hands in disbelief. Did he... No... nononono, he just... Bruce gazed up the other two in shock. _

_It had not took him forever to connect the dots. It was simple. _

_He just tried to choke his son... _

_The boy he vowed to protect... _

_The boy he raised and cared for... _

_The boy he PROTECTED. _

_"Richard, I... I-I don't know what... Dick, I am SO sorry..." Bruce stammered. He took a step towards the two. Dick's eyes widened and with a raspy whimper, the teen yanked himself from Alfred's arms and ran out the cave to his motor cycle. Bruce ran after him, but Alfred stayed there, still truamatized by what he just saw. _

_Before Bruce could reach Dick, the the teen sped off, leaving the man in the dust. "Richard!"_

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><p>Bruce winced at the memory, still feeling hatred of himself. How dare he touch Richard like that? How could he? It made Bruce sick to his stomach. He could just see it now; Mary and John Grayson were both looking down upon him, wondering how could their precious little boy end up with a monster... Bruce's masked eyes went slit. Dick must have been so scared. Alfred must have been hateful. The League sure as hell was.<p>

But now was not the time to carry burdens. They had just recieved a video from one of the local bank security cameras and had high hopes that it could be a clue. Superman pressed the play button and everyone watched.

_Four police officers stood in a line beside each other, pointing their guns threatenly at a shadowed figure, wearing a black shredded, dark-looking hood cape that overshadowed his face from nose to eyes. All you could see were lips. The figure also wore a black leather suit with gun hoisters around his waist and that ran wrapped around his right leg to inside his boot, also attaining a gun. Around the torso was a strap holding something that hid under the cape officers seemed to be shouting demands to surrender. The intruder's thin lips suddenly stretched into a cold, no good meaning, menacing grin. Very slowly, the figure reached into his robes. His hand kept still inside, as well as himself ignoring the officers. _

_Finally one shot before all the others. With unbelievable speed that would make Flash and KF jealous, the enemy pulles out a long silver blade with a navy blue handle, and BLOCKED the bullet coming towards him. _

The heroes felt themselves stiffen in surprise. Clearly, this new enemy was quick, smart, and very skilled.

_More bullets zipped at the unkniwn figure only to be dodged by the sword. Finally, he (as it seem because of the lack of breasts, very muscled legs, and toned abs), leapes into the air and raised his sword and swung, slicing one officer on the chest. Crimson splattered onto the sword as the officer fell to the floor. The intruder then stabbed one in the gut and another he sliced in the stomach. Finally, the last officer dropped his gun and shakily went to his knees holding his hands up in surrender. _

_The stranger stalked to the officer, dragging his blood dripping sword, creating a line of red on the floor. Every step he took, the officer trembled even more ad now began racking in sobs. The intruder's grin only widened. Without hesitation, he placed the blade to the man's throat. Refusing his mercy, the hooded figure slit the officer's throat, never caring of the blood being sprayed onto his body. Looking at the blood pooled room, the figure suddenly gazed to the cameras... Smiling. He pulled out his gun and aimed before shooting the camera. _

Everyone was frozen from where they stood, all holding their breaths. This was somewhat an unusual criminal; "Wait, if he knew someone could watch this, why did he wait to shoot the camera until he killed the officers?" Wally asked. His tongue tasted of vomit he swollowed during the video. It made him sick. Batman did not seem affected and tried finding clues in the video. "I am guessing he wanted to make a show," Superman said.

"You are exactly right," Batman agreed with a gruff. No one noticed the Dark Knight's full concern. He has never encountered a criminal use such skill to kill. And that smile... it was familiar... But still, the video gave no lead to find Dick. It scared Bruce...

What if they never find Robin? What if Bruce never gets to apologize to Richard? What if Dick was... Dead.

Bruce sucked in a breath, trying to pull together his thoughts... Those types of burdens alone would destroy him.

_"I'm sixteen, Bruce. I think I can take care of situations... Why can't you let ME handle things by myself?"_

_"So you can turn out like JASON?!" _

Bruce felt his stomach churn. Before he could hit a wall, he turned his heel and immediately left the grouo, leaving them in surprise but understanding. They knew the Dark Knighy was hurting as much as they were... perhaps even more.

"I have never seen him like this," Wonder Woman whispered.

Clark placed a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "Robin is very important to Bats... He just needs time alone. Right now, we have to get to the bottom of things. We will need to do patrols every night- but we still need to keep our duties balances. Find this unknown criminal," he exclaimed, pointing to the screen.

"But how can we find him if we don't even know how he looks like?" Artemis questioned.

"Yes. We need to find more leads. This is the first outbreak of this new villain, we don't know inner status," M'gann agreed.

"Then we find some. Until then-"

_Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Mount Justice has been compromised! _

Everyone gathered around. Their eyes darted everywhere as the room enlightened with a blinking red light. "Who the hell can break in here?!" Connor asked.

"_I see you got my message," _a voice spoke. Everyone froze. That voice... that voice- they know that voice. Clark tried using x-ray vision but found nothing. "Who are you?" Kaldur asked. A cackle was what they had got in response. That laugh was familiar. Wally felt his heart skip a beat, but he kept his mouth shut before jumping to conclusions.

"_Well, I am touched you asked, Superman... So I should be generous and answer your question..." _

From one of the doorway shadows, a figure stepped out. Everyone gasped. It was the same villain from the video. A smirk was played on the intruders lips as the heroes stood ready for a battle. Artemis glared threateningly with her bow aimed. "Reveal yourself. Now," she hissed. The intruder stood there for a few moments, huffing a laugh before reaching slowly to the hood and pulling it down. "As you wish..."

Oh...

My...

God...

Everyone at that second, nearly jumped out of their skin in pure shock and disbelief. There, the stranger looked to br no stranger. It was a teen, at least sixteen with raven hair down in an emoish look, and with a mask that was at a curve tip on the sides like a baterang. A devilish smirk went well with his dark complexion.

Wally's heart thudded rapidly against his chest along with the others. His evergreens squinted in disbelief. Slowly, he slurred out, "... R... Robin?"

The assassin cocked an eyebrow, then laughed. "Robin?... what kindbof ridiculous name is that?... no nonono..."

He ran a hand through his locks with a sigh before gazing back to them with a grin. "... The name's _Nightshadow_... And either give me what I ask for or else..." He pulled out a black stick. With a press of a button, a long blade popped out with a slick cling. Nightshadow's face darkend.

"We will do this the other way..."

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><p><strong>Cliffie!<strong>


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